Letter from Cecil Harmsworth to Augustine Birrell, 31 March 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Cecil Harmsworth

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

This letter was written by Cecil Harmsworth (1869-1948) and addressed Augustine Birrell (1850-1933). Birrell was appointed chief secretary in January 1907. In 1916 he resigned as he willingly accepted the political responsibility for the outbreak of the Rising in 1916. Harmsworth as well as being a British politician was also the 1st Baron of Harmsworth. In this letter Hamrworth recommends John Robert O'Connell (1868-1943) for the vacant position of chief crown solicitor. Harmsworth mentions that they studied together as undergraduates at Trinity College Dublin and that everything he knows of him is in his favour.

National Archives of Ireland Chief Secretary's Office Registered Papers; CSO RP/1916/7153/15 https://letters1916.ie/item/1788 English Cecil Harmsworth 1916-03-31 London, England Augustine Birrell Male 1948 Industry and Public Administration Industry and Public Administration

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 28, Montagu Square.W. 31st March 1916 My dear Mr Birrell Sir J.R. O'Connell tells me that he is a candidate for a vacant office of Chief Crown Solicitor for Ireland. I have known Sir JR O'Connell since we were undergraduates together in Trinity College Dublin & everything I know of him is in his favour. I am very reluctant to "butt in" in a situation that knowing something of the difficulties that surround our Crown appointment under a questionable reading government, I can well believe to be extremely embarrassing, & I discharge a moral bound duty in testifying so in Sir JR O'Connell's questionable reading qual- ifications for the post Believe me yours very sincerly Celine Harmsworth Augustine Birrell Letter from Brother Vincent O'Kelly to the Chief Secretary, 3 April 1916Letter from Patrick Joseph Brady to Augustine Birrell, 27 Mar 1916Letter from Thomas Gerrard to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916Letter from James P. Farrell et al. to Augustine Birrell, 7 April 1916A letter from Francis E. Meehan to Augustine Birrell, 3 April 1916Letter from James Patrick Farrell to Augustine Birrell, 27 March 1916Letter from Edmund Loftus Wickham to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916Letter from Margaret May Loughren to Augustine Birrell, 26 March 1916Letter from Hugh O'Brien Moran to Augustine Birrell, 4 May 1916Letter from Lord Hugh Gough to Augustine Birrell, 28 April 1916Letter from Joseph Dowdall to Augustine Birrell, 18 April 1916Letter from William Field to Augustine Birrell, 14 April 1916Letter from J. G. Swift MacNeill to Augustine Birrell, 17 April 1916Letter from William Johnson to the chief secretary, 14 April 1916Letter from Miss Helen Augusta Crofton to Augustine Birrell, 3 May 1916Letter from A. J. Loughborough Ball to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916Letter from Mr MJ Murphy to Mr Augustine Birrell, chief secretary for Ireland, 10 November 1916Letter from James Neazor to Augustine Birrell, 6 January 1916Letter from William O'Brien to Augustine Birrell, 26 February 1916Letter from Scott Alexander to Augustine Birrell, 3 March 1916Letter from John Clear to Augustine Birrell, 23 February 1916Letter from Thomas O'Donnell to Augustine Birrell, 9 April 1916Letter from P. Burrowes Shiel to Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, 27 March 1916.Letter from William Field to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916Letter from Alfred Bryne to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916Letter from Edward W. Mooney to Augustine Birrell, 4 April 1916Letter from Augustine Birrell to Edward W. Mooney, 5 April 1916Letter from Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde to Augustine Birrell, 7 April 1916Letter from William Howell Davies to Augustine Birrell, 10 April 1916Letter from Jonathan Pim to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916Letter from Sir Bertram Windle to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916.Letter from Cecil Harmsworth to Augustine Birrell, 31 March 1916Letter from Jeannie Horner to Augustine Birrell, 4 April 1916Letter from William Seddall to Augustine Birrell, 14 April 1916Letter from Thomas Francis Smyth to Augustine Birrell, 27 March 1916Letter from A. Ross to Augustine Birrell, 30 April 1916Letter from Richard Creighton to Augustine Birrell, 25 April 1916Letter from Joseph Michael Stanley, 29 March 1916Letter from W. A. Tait to the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 13 April 1916Letter from A. Stanford to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916Letter from Edmund Blayney Clarke to Augustine Birrell, 29 May 1916Letter from Edmund Blayney Clarke to Augustine Birrell, 23 May 1916Letter from William O'Brien to Augustine Birrell, 26 February 1916Letter from Henry T. Gallagher to Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 29 March 1916 Cecil Harmsworth Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to Cecil Harmsworth, 1 April 1916.Letter from Cecil Harmsworth to Augustine Birrell, 31 March 1916 London, England Letter from Lancelot Worthy Horne to Robert Chalmers 31, May 1916Letter from Edward O'Farrell to Bertram Cubitt, 10 June 1916Letter from Lancelot Worthy Horne to Command Paymaster, 8 May 1916Telegram from Basil Home Thomson, Assistant Commissioner at New Scotland Yard, to Sir Neville Chamberlain, 9 April 1916Letter from Sir Edward O'Farrell to Sir Reginald H Brade, War Office, 12 November 1915Letter from John Condon to Herbert Samuel, 17 June 1916Letter from Matthew Nathan to the Treasury, 3 March 1916Letter from Lady Henrietta MacDonnell to Lady Clonbrock, 23 September 1916Postcard from C.D. Groom to Lady Clonbrock, 1 March 1916Letter from Lady Henrietta MacDonnell to Lady Clonbrock, 28 October 1916Letter from Colonel Douglas Proby, to Matthew Nathan, 25 February 1916Letter from Herbert Samuel to Lord Wimbourne, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 15 February 1916Letter from Colonel Douglas Proby to Augustine Birrell, 26 January 1916Letter from Labour Party of Bruff, Co. Limerick to British PM H.H. Asquith, February 1916Letter by Edward O'Farrell to R.J. Nugent, 29 February 1916Letter from the Controller, Foreign Trade Department, to Sir Matthew Nathan, 19 February 1916Telegram from James Davidson to Samuel and Clara Davidson, 8 April 1916Letter from William Haldane Porter to Edward O'Farrell, 1 January 1916Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to M.J. Murphy MP, 11 November 1916Letter from George Bernard Shaw to Mabel FitzGerald, 25 May 1916Letter from Michael Governey to Major General, Army Veterinary Service, 10 January 1916Letter from Henry Lawson to Director General, Army Veterinary Service, 18 January 1916Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to Cecil Harmsworth, 1 April 1916.Letter from Cecil Harmsworth to Augustine Birrell, 31 March 1916Letter from Edward O'Farrell to the Secretary, General Post Office, London, 1 June 1916 Telegram from the Managing Editor, Central News to the Secretary, Dublin Castle, 20 May 1916Letter from Celia Duffin to Auntie D, 3 December 1915Letter from Maria Duffin to Celia Duffin, 13 February 1916Letter from Father Edward Murnane to George Gavan Duffy, 24 July 1916Letter from Laurence Ginnell to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 19 May 1916Card from Father Bally to the editor of the Irish Citizen, 2 November 1915Letter from Art Ó Briain to The Commandant, Frongoch Internment Camp 8 September 1916Letter from Art Ó Briain to John J Neeson, 4 September 1916Letter from James O' Dwyer to Art Ó Briain, 31 August 1916Letter from J E Lyons to Miss Coates, 5 July 1916Postcard to Edward Carson, 4 May 1916Letter from Thomas Kirkpatrick to Sir William Henry Thompson, 2 February 1918Letter from Thomas Kirkpatrick to Herbert Eldon Roaf, 14 March 1919Letter from Thomas Kirkpatrick to Captain J.C. O'Farrell, 11 June 1919Letter from Thomas Kirkpatrick to Mrs. R.J. Quin, 30 September 1919Letter from Paddy Guinness to Cesca Chenevix Trench, 6 June 1916Telegram from Basil Home Thomson, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, to Sir Neville Chamberlain, 8 April 1916Letter from Henry Wilson to James Craig, 1922